The birds of Australia [and related works by the same author], London, 1910-36 - photo 1
The birds of Australia [and related works by the same author], London, 1910-36 - photo 2
The birds of Australia [and related works by the same author], London, 1910-36 - photo 3
The birds of Australia [and related works by the same author], London, 1910-36 - photo 4
The birds of Australia [and related works by the same author], London, 1910-36 - photo 5

The birds of Australia [and related works by the same author], London, 1910-36

Lot 14
21.09.2023 10:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Starting price
£ 12 000
AuctioneerSotheby´s
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 1026122
Lot 14 | The birds of Australia [and related works by the same author], London, 1910-36
Estimate value
£ 12 000 – 18 000
The birds of Australia, with related works, comprising:

i. The Birds of Australia... with hand-coloured plates. London: Witherby & Co., 1910-1927. 13 volumes (including supplement), large 4to (362 x 260mm.), 600 hand-coloured lithographed plates by and after J.G. Keulemans, H. Gronvold, R. Green, H. Goodchild, and G.E. Lodge, half-titles, contemporary half roan, spines labelled in gilt (spine of vol.9 misnumbered by the binder), retaining original paper wrappers, leaves uncut, extremities rubbed [Anker 328; McGill/Wood, p. 454; Nissen IVB 605; Whittell, p. 490; Zimmer, p. 419];

ii. The Birds of Norfolk & Lord Howe Islands and the Australasian South Polar Quadrant, with Additions to the Birds of Australia. London, 1928. Large 4to, 38 hand-coloured lithographed plates after H. Gronvold, R. Green, and F.W. Frohawk, 7 halftone plates, half-title, uncut in paper wrappers as issued [Anker 328; Nissen IVB 606; McGill/Wood p. 454; Whittell, p. 502];

iii. A supplement to The Birds of Norfolk & Lord Howe Islands, to which is added the birds of New Zealand not figured by Buller. London, 1936. Large 4to, 38 (of 57) plates, of which 30 hand-coloured, unbound in quires;

iv. Original prospectus for The Birds of Australia. London, 1912. 4pp. and specimen plate, text foxed;

v. Original prospectus for the Supplement to the Birds of Norfolk & Lord Howe Islands. Single leaf, foxed;

vi. 3 uncoloured proof plates, marked up in pencil for the printer by the artist, F.W. Frohawk, with Frohawk's signature to lower left-hand margins, previously folded

THE MOST IMPORTANT TWENTIETH-CENTURY CONTRIBUTION TO AUSTRALIAN ORNITHOLOGY. In this work, the first important treatment of Australian birds since Gould's Avifauna, Matthews provided illustrations of about one hundred species not given by Gould, and many sub-species. The Birds of Australia is one of the last ornithological works to be illustrated with hand-coloured lithographs. The author regarded the Birds of Norfolk & Lord Howe Islands as a complete and independent study in its own right. Birds of Australia was limited to 300 copies, and the succeeding works to 225 copies each.
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